Smith & Wesson Holding Corp(NASDAQ:SWHC) Surging On Earnings Beat

Making the list of Trending Tickers today are homebuilder Hovnanian Enterprises, Inc.(NYSE:HOV), sliding on an earnings miss blaming cold weather for decreased home purchases; DryShips Inc.(NASDAQ:DRYS) – the drybulk shipper jumping on higher shipping rates; Zynga Inc(NASDAQ:ZNGA) climbing on news the game publisher wants to offer real-money online poker outside the United States; solar panel maker Canadian Solar Inc.(NASDAQ:CSIQ) tumbling as it warned weather-related issues will affect it’s top line next quarter; and our trending ticker for today, Smith & Wesson Holding Corp(NASDAQ:SWHC).

The firearm manufacturer is up as much as 18% after reporting better than expected earnings and 7% revenue growth. The gains were driven by a 30% growth in handgun sales.

On last night’s conference call with analysts Smith & Wesson CEO James Debney said the growth in handgun sales was a “very favorable result when we consider the year ago period included a peak in consumer demand.”

That demand spike came in the wake of the December 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. Shares of Smith & Wesson are up 153% over the last 2 years. According to polls conducted by Gallup only 1 in 4 Americans currently support limits on handgun ownership. It’s the lowest level of support such bans in the 60 years Gallup has been conducting the survey.